Posts Tagged ‘loose carpet yarns’

Last week, I inspected a large commercial installation. The complaint came in as “loose tufts and snags”. What I found was something very different: sprouts.

As defined in my book, All About Carpets, “sprouts are long ends of yarns that protrude above the pile surface…Sprouting is a defect only if excessive and unserviceable.”

When I looked across the large, open, glued-down (no padding) installation, it appeared someone had dropped small ball bearings all over this tufted carpet. What I actually saw were random longer loops of carpet pile that were sticking up above the rest of the level loop pile. So what was going on? Had something yanked loops out of the carpet backing? Or was it something else?

Tufted carpet is made by using needles that stitch carpet yarns into a thin sheet of material. As many as 1,000 needles run across a width of carpet. Each needle sets a looped yarn at a predetermined height. For cut-pile carpet, a knife cuts (more…)

Knee Kicker: a short device with gripper teeth on one end and a cushion on the other. It is used by installers to stretch carpet in small areas, like closets. It is also used to position the carpet onto the tackless strip before power stretching. The installer puts the teeth into the pile and bumps the padded end with the area just above the knee. (From All About Carpets: Everything You Need to Know)

After installing a new carpet, it is normal to see an occasional loose tuft or thread here and there. It is not normal to still see loose tufts coming out of the new carpet after a few weeks.

There are several reasons for tufts (carpet yarns) to work out of the carpet backing. There might be a problem with (more…)

Carpet sprouts and snags are tufts that have worked themselves up so that they are higher than the surrounding pile.

Snags are face yarns, cut or loop, that have been pulled from the backing by something in the home. Snags are more common with loop piles. Vacuum cleaners with sharp corners or broken parts, pets, protruding nails from shoe heels, chair legs, and children can all pull out tufts and cause snags. Single snags should be clipped flush with (more…)

Recently, I received an inspection request from a major carpet manufacturer. The complaint involved carpet yarns pulling from the carpet backing.

The carpet was installed throughout a large, well-maintained two-story home. The consumer explained to me that she had found carpet yarns pulled from the backing throughout the installation. She acknowledged that she has a dog and two cats. But she was adamant that her pets had not damaged the carpet.

The carpet texture was a cut and loop pattern. The pattern formed a small grid. When I looked around the rooms, I noticed that (more…)

I recently looked at a new carpet installed throughout a two-story, four-bedroom home, where the owner had complained she found loose tufts (carpet yarns) all over the house after she vacuumed. She had saved several dozen tufts for me to look at.

There are several reasons why loose tufts appear on a carpet. The causes could be manufacturing, installation, or in-home related. My job as a flooring inspector is to eliminate possibilities and discover the true reason for this complaint.

The owner has a cat. The loose tufts were in good condition — they did not look like the cat had clawed them. I used an ultraviolet light to check for cat urine: negative. I did not smell any urine, either.

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Meet Your Flooring Expert

Glenn Revere is a nationally recognized Carpet Inspector who has dedicated his life to the study, maintenance, and sales of carpets. He specializes in carpet, laminate, hardwood, and engineered flooring. Glenn consults for individuals, manufacturers, and installers.